In Nepal, from November 19th to the 24th, 2009 Palden Dorje aka Ram Bomjon famous for his long term meditation, will be giving blessings at the site of Gadhi Mai Mela. He plans this appearance in order to protest the sacrificing of more than a million animals before they begin on the 24th at the Gadhi Mai Festival near Nijgad in Bara District. Please participate in any way you can. Tell all your friends! There are also news articles, discussion boards and a petition to “stop Gadimai” animal sacrifice on GoPetition.

Devotees believe the event brings good luck and will encourage Gadhimai, the Hindu goddess of power, to answer their wishes.

Several charities had worked to stop the slaughter – the first of its kind since an estimated 200,000 animals and birds were sacrificed in 2009 – but only succeeded in pressuring the Indian Government into stopping animals being transported across the border.

At a rally outside the Nepalese embassy, she said: “I love Nepal – both the land and its people. The Gadhimai animal sacrifice festival entails horrendous animal suffering and is a complete anomaly in this wonderful country.”

The ritual begins before dawn in the fields outside Gadhimai temple in Bariyarpur, where a priest trickles his own blood combined with that of a rat, chicken, pigeon, goat, and pig.

“The sights and sounds are unimaginable,” wrote Jayasimha Nuggehalli director of the Indian branch of the Humane Society International. “Pools of blood, animals bellowing in pain and panic, wide-eyed children looking on, devotees covered in animal blood, and some people even drinking blood from the headless but still warm carcasses.”

“However, the positive thing is that the number of animals killed has come down…we hope there will be no killing of any animal at the next festival,” she said.

An Italian charity, Partito EcoAnimalista, called Gadhimai “unparalleled religious madness”, saying the buffaloes are not given food or water for several days before the slaughter to make them docile and weak.

Peta also launched a petition calling for the “horrifying display of violence” to be stopped.

Its letter read: “The frenzied slaughter of hundreds of thousands of goats, chickens, buffalo and other animals only tarnishes Nepal’s international reputation. Numerous animals, already weakened by their long journeys, die from exhaustion, starvation or dehydration before the massacre begins.”

Several Hindu leaders have also argued that the ritual goes against core religious beliefs.

Surya Upadhya, chairman of the Nepalese Hindu Forum in the UK, said: “The Nepalese Hindu Forum in the UK completely opposes animal sacrifice as Hinduism does not sanction the killing of living beings.

“There should not be any place for this inhumane, barbaric sacrifice of innocent animals in the name of any religion”.

The interim law banning the transport of animals from India had led to almost 2,500 being confiscated and 114 arrests in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Sashastra Seema Bal, said N.G. Jayasimha, the managing director of Humane Society International India.

Pictures of the slaughter showed carcasses of countless beheaded and mutilated animals surrounded by pools of blood as young boys watched the bloodshed.

The gruesome images provoked outrage on Twitter, with global calls for Gadhimai to be stopped before the next ritual is due in 2019, although some defended the tradition.

The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest religion in the world, and there are as many as half a million members in the United States. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Sikh Americans faced many of the same discriminatory conditions as Muslims and Arab Americans. Because of their distinct appearance, they were visible targets of violence and harassment. Democracy Now!’s Jaisal Noor filed this report, produced with Free Speech Radio News.

A 31-year-old woman was arrested on Saturday and charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in connection with the death of a man who was pushed onto the tracks of an elevated subway station in Queens and crushed by an oncoming train.

The woman, Erika Menendez, selected her victim because she believed him to be a Muslim or a Hindu, Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said.

“The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter’s nightmare: Being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train,” Mr. Brown said in an interview.

In a statement, Mr. Brown quoted Ms. Menendez, “in sum and substance,” as having told the police: “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.” Ms. Menendez conflated the Muslim and Hindu faiths in her comments to the police and in her target for attack, officials said.

The victim, Sunando Sen, was born in India and, according to a roommate, was raised Hindu.

Mr. Sen “was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself,” Mr. Brown said. “Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant’s actions should never be tolerated by a civilized society.” …

Mr. Sen, after years of saving money, had opened a small copying business on the Upper West Side this year.

Ar Suman, a Muslim, and one of three roommates who shared a small first-floor apartment with Mr. Sen in Elmhurst, said he and Mr. Sen often discussed religion.

The archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, described the figures as “horrific and shameful”.

The admission came in a submission to a state parliamentary inquiry into the handling of abuse cases, however campaigners say the true figure could be up to 10,000 victims.

The church said the 620 cases went back 80 years with the majority taking place between the 1960s and the 1980s, with another 45 cases being investigated.

In a statement, Archbishop Hart said it was important to be open “about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere“.

“We look to this inquiry to assist the healing of those who have been abused, to examine the broad context of the church’s response, especially over the last 16 years, and to make recommendations to enhance the care for victims and preventative measures that are now in place,” the statement said.

In view of new shocking disclosure of few hundred sexual abuse cases involving children in Victoria (Australia), Hindus have asked the Vatican to come up with a detailed worldwide White Paper on the global child abuse scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church: here.

Australian government announces inquiry into institutional child sex abuse: here.

Indonesia has rejected a push by the resort island of Bali for rare turtles to be legally slain in Hindu ceremonies, siding with conservationists of the protected reptiles against religious advocates, an official said Friday.

He said legally killed turtles should not end up in cooking pots, served to tourists in restaurants as soup or turtle skewers as they had in the past.

“It would be supervised tightly, and any violation would have to punished,” Pastika told reporters in Denpasar, Bali, on Wednesday.

Turtle meat is a traditional delicacy in Bali, the only province with a Hindu majority in Indonesia’s Muslim-dominated archipelago. But Indonesia banned the turtle trade and consumption a decade ago amid international concerns about the endangered species’ dwindling numbers and threats by animal welfare groups of a tourist boycott of Bali.

Masyud, a spokesman for the Forestry Ministry which is also responsible for animal conservation, said Friday the governor’s request for a Bali exemption from national protection laws was recently rejected on scientific advice.

“The law clearly mandates it was not possible, that the green turtles are included in the animals listed for protection,” said Masyud, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Tens of thousands of green turtles nest on Indonesia’s coasts, but sites have dwindled because of poaching and development.

Conservationisst generally respect the Hindus’ need for turtles in rituals, but railed against the number proposed.

Wayan Geria, coordinator of the Turtle Education and Conservation Center at Bali, described the quota plan as an embarrassment to protection efforts.

Creusa Hitipeuw, coordinator of the Indonesia turtle program of the World Wildlife Fund, said introducing such a high quota could trigger large-scale illegal trade and consumption.

“We recognize the need for the use of turtles in a ceremony, but it has to be managed well,” she said. “What we are afraid of is the commercial trade. It’s a death trap for this kind of population.”

Bali Hindu Faith Council head Ngurah Sudiana called for Jakarta to approve a smaller quota.

“The central government should understand the need for green turtles as part of traditional ceremonies because it relates to our faith,” Sudiana said. “Prohibiting it will hurt Balinese people.”

Up to five turtles are needed for sacrifice at each of the 100 to 150 large ceremonies a year in Hindu temples around Bali, he said.

Turtles were traditionally decapitated. But since they became protected in 1999, ceremonies in many temples have changed with turtles being symbolically sacrificed through their release to the sea alive.

Indonesia is 90% Muslim, but Bali is the exception, which is 90% Hindu. The Hindu community of Bali has traditionally used marine turtles for religious ceremonies for decades. Consumption of these turtles summed between 10,000 and 20,000 a year: here.

Incorporating 17,000 tropical islands, Indonesia is one of the world’s richest areas of biodiversity. However, according to the Jakarta Post, over half of this biodiversity remains unrecorded with only 20 of the more than 400 regencies in the country recording species: here.

As death toll rises, Prime Minister denounces ‘national shame’ in state of Orissa where 60 churches were burned down

* Gethin Chamberlain

* Sunday August 31 2008

Thousands of terrified Indian Christians are hiding in the forests of the volatile Indian state of Orissa after a wave of religious ‘cleansing’ forced them from their burnt-out homes with no immediate prospect of return.

A mob of Hindu fundamentalists rampaged through villages last week, killing those too slow to get out of their way, burning churches and an orphanage, and targeting the homes of Christians. …

POLICE in New Delhi detained hundreds of Christian protesters yesterday as they prepared to march to the home minister’s residence to demand that the government investigate recent attacks against churches: here.